Getting ready for Lakers
As many questions as they've had to answer about the seven players who could become free agents after this season, the Jazz point to the Lakers as a team in a similar boat. In fact, the Lakers are dealing with some even bigger issues.
First of all, Kobe Bryant can opt out of his contract after the season. Second, Lamar Odom is a free agent and unhappy about the possibility of coming off the bench in a contract year. Third, the Lakers have to try to sign Andrew Bynum to an extension before Oct. 31.
These issues dwarf anything the Jazz are dealing with. How much, for example, do you pay Bynum, who's not even 21 but looked like a star in the making last season before injuring his knee? Bynum's camp has to be looking for Deron Williams money.
* * *
How much does the preseason matter?
That's a question I've regularly asked watching so many exhibition games in October. The Jazz won 54 games last season, but does anybody even remember their preseason record? (It was 4-3, with their final game canceled because of the San Diego wildfires.)
If you go back 21 years with the Jazz - - I'm not counting the two-game preseason in the lockout shortened 1998-99 season - - there's actually a reasonable correlation between the preseason and regular season.
Sixteen times, the Jazz finished the preseason with a winning record and 16 times they finished the regular season with a winning record. I'm not sure how much you could see a 64-18 regular season coming in 1996-97 from a 4-4 preseason, but it's a start.
Three times, the Jazz have had a losing preseason and gone on to a winning regular season. The most recent was in 2005-06, when they went 2-5 in exhibitions and 41-41 during the regular season.
There's been only once when the Jazz have had a winning preseason and gone on to a losing regular season. That was 2004-05, when the Jazz went 4-3 in exhibitions and bottomed out during a 26-56 regular season.
Still, I think you'd have to agree that with the preseason and regular season results agreeing in 16 of 20 seasons for the Jazz, maybe there's a little more substance to October than you'd initially think.
* * *
There was some thought that Kobe Bryant might not play Tuesday against the Jazz. Lakers coach Phil Jackson told reporters last week that he was considering holding out Bryant from one or two preseason games after last season's run to the NBA Finals and Bryant's Olympic summer.
That might still happen, but not with the Lakers playing in Orange County. Bryant lives near Newport Beach, Calif., which is a short drive from Tuesday's game at the Honda Center in Anaheim. If nothing else, Ronnie Brewer's going to get a good test in the season's first game.
* * *
Matt Harpring was on the practice court working out Monday morning with assistants Scott Layden and Tyrone Corbin. There's no timetable for Harpring to return from his ankle injury, but it was the first time we've seen him on the floor this season.
--Ross Siler
First of all, Kobe Bryant can opt out of his contract after the season. Second, Lamar Odom is a free agent and unhappy about the possibility of coming off the bench in a contract year. Third, the Lakers have to try to sign Andrew Bynum to an extension before Oct. 31.
These issues dwarf anything the Jazz are dealing with. How much, for example, do you pay Bynum, who's not even 21 but looked like a star in the making last season before injuring his knee? Bynum's camp has to be looking for Deron Williams money.
* * *
How much does the preseason matter?
That's a question I've regularly asked watching so many exhibition games in October. The Jazz won 54 games last season, but does anybody even remember their preseason record? (It was 4-3, with their final game canceled because of the San Diego wildfires.)
If you go back 21 years with the Jazz - - I'm not counting the two-game preseason in the lockout shortened 1998-99 season - - there's actually a reasonable correlation between the preseason and regular season.
Sixteen times, the Jazz finished the preseason with a winning record and 16 times they finished the regular season with a winning record. I'm not sure how much you could see a 64-18 regular season coming in 1996-97 from a 4-4 preseason, but it's a start.
Three times, the Jazz have had a losing preseason and gone on to a winning regular season. The most recent was in 2005-06, when they went 2-5 in exhibitions and 41-41 during the regular season.
There's been only once when the Jazz have had a winning preseason and gone on to a losing regular season. That was 2004-05, when the Jazz went 4-3 in exhibitions and bottomed out during a 26-56 regular season.
Still, I think you'd have to agree that with the preseason and regular season results agreeing in 16 of 20 seasons for the Jazz, maybe there's a little more substance to October than you'd initially think.
* * *
There was some thought that Kobe Bryant might not play Tuesday against the Jazz. Lakers coach Phil Jackson told reporters last week that he was considering holding out Bryant from one or two preseason games after last season's run to the NBA Finals and Bryant's Olympic summer.
That might still happen, but not with the Lakers playing in Orange County. Bryant lives near Newport Beach, Calif., which is a short drive from Tuesday's game at the Honda Center in Anaheim. If nothing else, Ronnie Brewer's going to get a good test in the season's first game.
* * *
Matt Harpring was on the practice court working out Monday morning with assistants Scott Layden and Tyrone Corbin. There's no timetable for Harpring to return from his ankle injury, but it was the first time we've seen him on the floor this season.
--Ross Siler
5:25 PM
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